The number of devices using Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN) continue to show dramatic growth. WLANs allow users the ability to connect to high-speed services without being tethered to wireline connections. WLANs are wireless communications systems that are based on the IEEE 802.11 series of technical standards. Typically, as the number of devices using WLANs increases, the density of devices in the WLANs (e.g., access points (APs) and stations (STA)) will also increase. High densities of APs (also commonly referred to as communications controller, controller, and the like) and stations (also commonly referred to as user, subscriber, terminal, and the like) tend to make WLANs less efficient, especially since the original WLANs were designed assuming a low density of APs and stations. As an example of inefficiency, a currently used enhanced distributed channel access (EDCA) based media access control (MAC) scheme generally does not work efficiently in an environment with high AP and station density.
A newly formed IEEE 802.11 Study Group named “High Efficiency WLAN (HEW)” has been formed to study, among other things, improving system performance in a high density environment.